Emery drops game on cold night in Kamas

Last Friday night Emery traveled to South Summit High School in Kamas for a key region football game and Emery came home with a 40-15 loss. The game decided who would finish third in region action this season with the Wildcats claiming possession and now the Spartans will have to defeat North Summit this week in the final region game to decide fourth and fifth place.

With the first round of 2-A Utah State playoffs set to begin next week, every game at this time of the season is key to positioning for those playoffs. Emery is guaranteed a playoff spot but what is still undecided is whether that game will be at home or on the road. A win this week will give Emery a home game next week and a loss will send Emery somewhere south.

In a game played in the cold and the wet and with snow falling throughout the game, Emery was able to stay close for the first quarter and then the game got away from them.

Emery scored first in the game on a 29-yard field goal kicked by Cory Cox. South Summit received the opening kickoff. The Wildcats fumbled on their second play and David Dyer recovered the loose ball for Emery. Emery picked up 27 yards before the drive stalled at the Wildcat 12-yard line.

South Summit scored touchdowns on their next two drives but missed both extra points. After the second touchdown, Emery's Dominic Rondinelli returned the kick for a touchdown and Emery trailed at the end of the first quarter 12-9.

The Wildcats then scored on their next three drives to build a big lead while the Spartan offense was able to get minimal yardage. Emery mounted a 64-yard drive in the fourth quarter as the Spartans got to their 15 points.

Cox lead the way for Emery with 62 yards on 16 carries with Brett Sorensen picking up 55 yards on 12 carries. Emery gained 181 yards in the game while South Summit finished with 404 yards of offense.

2-A football is broken down into two regions, a North region and a South region. Emery is in the North region and currently tied with North Summit for fourth place with 3-3 records. Manti and Millard are tied for first with 6-0 records and will play each other this Friday night at Manti. South Summit is 4-2 and in third place. ALA and Gunnison are tied at 1-5 and North Sevier is last at 0-6.

In the South region, San Juan is first in the region with a 6-0 record followed by Beaver, Enterprise and Richfield at 4-2. Kanab is 3-3, Grand is 2-4, South Sevier is 1-5 and Parowan is 0-6.

Six of the eight teams in each region receive a playoff spot. This week is key for many of the teams as to whom they will play and where. If Emery wins, they will host a game with the fifth place team from the south.

Emery against North Summit is this Friday night at 7 p.m., come out and cheer the team onto victory.